orate Giving
M i
12
Philanthropy Journal of North Carolina
Consumers let
consciences count
A new survey found that 78
percent of consumers are more likely
to buy cause-related products.
February 1994
Investing in schools
Education
secretary
to speak
in Charlotte
Richard Riley will speak this
month at the annual meeting of
the Charlotte-Mecklenhurg
Foundation. The Foundation
has a new strategy that aims to
focus community resources on
improving the public schools.
By Todd Cohen
“1“ he role of private philan-
I thropy in public education
I will be the topic of a speech
Feb. 17 in Charlotte by U.S.
Education Secretary Richard Riley.
Riley, former governor of South
Carolina and a former trustee of the
Duke Endowment in Charlotte, will
address the annual meeting of the
Charlotte-Mecklenhurg Education
Foundation.
The topic
of Riley’s
speech ties in
with a strategy
that has been
developed by
the Education
Foundation.
The Foun
dation recently
completed a
strategic plan.
Based on that
Richard Riley
plan, a possible emphasis of the
Foundation will be to focus its
investments on the professional
development of educators.
“The quick-fix things aren’t
working,” says Corinne Allen, execu
tive director. “We need to strategi
cally invest our funds so they have
the longest-lasting influence on the
quality of public education.”
The Foundation, which last year
handed out $110,000 in grants to ini
tiatives in the Charlotte school dis
trict, is preparing to establish an
endowment. It hopes to raise
$100,000 in seed money this year
and build the endowment to $6 mil
lion by 1997.
The strategic plan also calls for
building community support for sys
temic change in education; tapping
private funds to foster excellence in
the schools..
Allen says those goals are intend
ed to put limited community re
sources to their most effective use in
improving the schools.
The strategic planning effort was
headed by Ann D. Thomas, vice pres
ident for corporate contributions of
First Union National Bank.
BRIEFIY
New rules
for donors
The Alliance of Nonprofit
Mailers in Washington, DC
reminds its members that
charitable donations of
$250 or more are now tax
deductible only if the donor
keeps written documentation
of the donation from the
receiving charity. A can
celled check is no longer
considered adequate.
High-tech training
Greensboro firm establishes center
to study ethics, technology
DataMasters, a Greensboro-
based professional services
firm for high-tech companies,
has teamed up with Greensboro
College in establishing a new
Center for the Study of Ethics
and Technology. The center will
offer executive seminars on
business, technology and ethics
to individuals and corporations.
By Barbara Solow
he rapid strides made in
I the field of computer
I technology in the 1980s
I were not matched by
advances in ethics.
That’s the view of Paula White,
president of DataMasters, a
Greensboro-based professional ser
vices company for high-tech and
telecommunications firms.
To address the growing need for
business training that has an ethical
side, DataMasters last month opened
a new Center for the Study of Ethics
and Technology at Greensboro
College.
“Our mission is to be responsive
to the business community for deliv
ering advanced
technology train
ing and educa
tion,” White says. “Because of new
technology, there will he more ethi
cal issues to be addressed. That’s a
very basic element that business
needs to revisit.”
White says she looked at a num
ber of colleges before deciding that
Greensboro was the best place for
the new center.
“We needed a school that was
small enough and could be flexible
enough to do this.”
Although parts of the curriculum
are still being designed, the new cen
ter is set to begin offering training
sessions to interested businesses
and individuals.
G. Tom MUazzo, assistant to the
vice president for academic affairs
for educational technology at
Greensboro College, has been named
center director. He is a former com
puter company president, consultant
to AT&T’s Bell Labs and holds a
Ph.D. in Biblical Theology.
“Technology is raising ethical
issues all the time and we’re just not
dealing with them,” Milazzo says.
“The prime responsibility of the cen-
ETHICS
ter is to make sure
we understand the
impact of technolo
gy on human culture.”
For example, new information
technology codd replace many cleri
cal jobs in the next centuiy, Milazzo
says. Companies need to look at the
ethical implications of using comput
ers in the workplace.
The center also plans to conduct
research in neimal network technolo
gy, which involves teaching comput
ers to mimic the operations of the
human brain.
So far, DataMasters has spent
about $100,000 to set up the new cen
ter. White and Milazzo are applying
for foundation grants to support
expanded training and research.
Rachel Hollander, program direc
tor of Ethics and Values Studies at
the National Science Foundation in
Arlington, Va., says a number of U.S.
colleges and universities have estab-
Mshed ethics centers - many of which
focus on technology.
Among the newer programs is an
association for ethics center direc
tors at Indiana University and a
national clearin^ouse on computing
and human values at Southern
Tom Milazzo
Connec-ticut
State Univer
sity.
Aarne Ves-
ilind, a profes
sor of civil
engineering at
Duke Univer
sity, recently
established a
Center for
Applied Ethics
designed to
promote the
study of ethics across departmental
lines.
Where the DataMasters center is
unique, its founders say, is in form
ing a direct partnership between
business and academia.
“1 have learned that there are not
vehicles out there for the business
community that are flexible or fast
or advanced enou^ to support mar
ket demands,” White says. “We real
ly need a lot of support — whether
time or donations — to be able to go
much further with this idea.”
For information about classes at
the new center, call DataMasters at
(910) 373-1461 or 800-DATAMAS-
TERS.
Kicking off
Children’s Museum prepares for campaign
"r he Children’s Museum
I About the World has named
/ a president and the chair
man of its capital campaign, and is
putting the final touches on its
fundraising strategy.
Anne Bryan, former chief of ele
mentary education for the state
Department of Public Instruction, is
president of the Children’s Museum.
Named to head the capital campaign
is Charles Sanders, chairman and
chief executive officer of pharmaceu
tical maker Glaxo Inc. in Research
Trian^e Park.
The Children’s Museum is about
to launch a
campaign to
raise $8 mil
lion tor its
building in
downt own
Raleigh plus
$2 million to
$4 million
more for pro
gram and staff
costs. That
money will he
in addition to Anne Bryan
Charles Sanders
$12 million
earmarked for
the project
from an agree
ment between
Wake County
and the city of
Raleigh.
Sanders,
whose compa
ny has a Bri
tish parent,
says the fund
raising effort
will have state-wide, national and
international components. And at
least half the dollars will be solicited
from businesses.
The rest of the campaign cabinet
will be named soon, says Gordon
Smith, chairman of the Children
Museum’s board. In addition, he
says, ah international advisory
board will be named. That group will
provide advice on fundraising, pro
grams and other issues.
The 85,000-square-foot Museum
is scheduled to open in 1998. Its first
phase, scheduled to open next year,
will he housed in a renovated ware-
This rendering shows what the inside of the new
Children's Museum Around the World will look like.
File photo
house donated by the state.
Smith says that Bryan’s most
recent job, overseeing elementary
education for the state, will help the
musemn plug into school instruction.
Bryan previously headed the dropout
prevention program tor the Depart
ment of Public Instruction.
Sanders was active in a $150 mil
lion campaign at Massachusetts
General Hospital in the late 1970s
when he was the hospital’s director.
Todd Cohen
First Union
supports awards
First Union National Bank
was a major corporate spon
sor of the annual Rosa Parks
Awards given by The
Women's Center in Raleigh.
This year's award went to
Lucille Webb, a member of
the Wake County Board of
Health and a founding
member of Strengthening the
Black Family, Inc.
Lucille Webb accepts the Rosa Parks Award in Raleigh.
Rex Hospital
sponsors students
Rex Hospital in Raleigh will
sponsor a Tar Heel medical
student this summer as part
of the Family Medicine
Externship Program of the
N.C. Academy of Family
Physicians Foundation. The
student will serve a four-
week externship with a family
physician in the Triangle.
Wake United Arts
sets $600,000 goal
United Arts of Raleigh and
Wake County has set a
$600,000 goal for its annu
al fundraising campaign.
Will B. Spence, regional vice
president of Wachovia Bank
of North Carolina, heads the
campaign. United Arts,
which will campaign in 42
workplaces, funds 50 agen
cies and programs.